Goodnight, Patty

And so Patty passes on, his last days marked by dereliction, penury and acute renal trauma. A condition he fought without much help from the society he has left a bounty of soulful music and healthful songs. Patty transited lying on the blanket of misery as the world would not remit to him, the love he so showered through his numerous songs.

Also known as ‘The Sower’, Patty Obassey who is most remembered for that popular track, Nwa Mammy Water released in the ‘80s passed on losing a protracted battle against kidney failure. He was reported to have given up the ghost in his Enugu residence on Friday morning, having slipped into unconsciousness earlier that day. As reports have it, his was nearly a year-long tryst as his two kidneys were said to have failed. He was recommended for a transplant operation in India but that was not to be as he could not raise the minimum N10million required for the purpose. Newspapers quoted a female relative of the deceased to have said: “Brother died in his house this morning and his body had been deposited in the mortuary. He could not go for the kidney transplant in India as recommended by his doctor at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH, Enugu.”

Patty who hailed from Mmaku in Agwu Local Government Area of Enugu State was known for the sonority and pious beauty he brought to gospel music in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Apart from the very popular Nwa Mammy Water which brought him fame, he had strings of other hits like B’anu K’anyi kele Jehovah, Roputara nu onwe unu, and Onaputa wom, to name just a few. Singing in Igbo language, the gentle tenor of his voice and rich Christian message was remarkably different from the usually noisy dance music that gospel has turned to. Patty who was a clergy man truly sought to minister to his audience through the instrumentality of his music, deriving most of his songs straight from the Bible.

In more developed countries, Patty would have been very comfortable if not wealthy going by the number of ‘hits’ he released in his heyday as a gospel musician. He would have continued to earn royalties from the exposure of his music and income from the sale of his albums. But not so here. Music is aired in the electronic media and in public places with nary a dime of royalty paid and the minute a song is released, ‘pirates’ descend on it and flood the markets with it, debarring the creator of the work from enjoying the fruit of his labour. It is one of the numerous problems of under-development still plaguing the country. Though a number of agencies have been set up to combat intellectual rights violation, most of them have remained buried under the rubbles of the problems they are created to solve. This explains why an artiste of Patty’s calibre would end up in such penury and mendicant state.

For nearly one year, Patty solicited for help to seek medical aid abroad to no avail. Not from the generality of Nigerians, not from the people of the Southeast where his music was popular, not from the musicians association and not even from the Enugu State Government to which we are aware, a special appeal was made to help Patty live. Patty was an icon and a worthy ambassador of Enugu State. He did not deserve such shabby fate; rather, he deserved to have been given a chance to live.

Patty’s passage reiterates three quick lessons for us to learn: the need to respect intellectual property right, the need to nurture a compassionate society and the need to fix our health system so that we are not always faced with the option of ‘you either go to India or die’. Fare thee well ‘The Sower’, though you seem to have passed on unsung, we will continue to find solace in your evergreen, ever soothing songs.

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As a boy growing up in Enugu & other parts of Igbo land, I used to hear & listened to Patty Obasi songs then,because of the message & it inspiration. I still have them & still listen to them often,in fact I have converted them to CD.His music like Bianu Ka Anyi Jehovah,olebeka nsoropuru ndi, ona puta nala apiti & Olu ihunaya etc. takes me back to my time in Igbo land.Among other musics I used to listen to which I still preserved are Bro Okweh’s music Ochichi,Voice of the cross,methodist church Aba choir’s eme nkwa ekwere, Erasmus Jenewari (kalabari christian singer)etc.I wished I had enough money to assist Patty Obasi for his surgery in India.I pray that God will give his family the spirit to bear the lost.

Augustine Anusiem

An Icon is gone. It is quite a pity that our government had refused to do something very urgent about our health instutitions. They prefer travelling abroad even for headache. Our teaching hospitals have become mere consulting clinics with delapidated structures, untrained manpowers and unresponsive workforce. Our life is in the hands of God.

It is also a pity that the church (his constituency- AG) may not have even done a tangible thing to ammilorate his condition and pains. What is N10m to his massively populated church and our politicians? Now he is dead, the church will sing his praises, bring the money they could not bring out when alive for his burial.

May the good Lord comfort his family.

Admaya K

Is A pity that patty have to go in this manner, just imagine only 10million naira was hard for people and even the church to bring and ensure that patty live for one more year, too pad of the people of enugu and the church however may his soul rest in the Lord Amen. Admaya.K from Abia state
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oji

May the soul of this great one rest in peace. It is unfortunate how we can abandon such a great mind to pass away just like that, We should legislate against going abroad for medics for everybody in Nigeria full stop.

Chinedu

Oh what a loss, Nna anyi-ukwu ga nke oma. The church is not divided, I believe that Brother Batty will still be alive today if the church of Christ Jesus in Nigeria has rallied around him. AG alone can foot the bill, the Anglicans, Catholics, all pentecostal churches in Nigeria would have shown a little kindness to our dear brother. Well, may his soul rest in peace and may his family be consoled.

Kenneth

Wut a pity…my best n admired artsist is gone..our pple, govt bodies ,church of christ as a body would have dne smtin. They aboundoned u bcs u dnt dance 2 dia demo..nevertheless, jesus in u is d hope and power of ur ressurection as one ur song says..”onye kwere ekwe anwughi anwu” u live 4eva in our hrt

Awadanny

Am still singing ur songs as av always done all through from childhood.
I doubt it very strongly if I can ever stop singing these songs…